Many people who have turned to Social Security for help in recent years have found long waits for service.
The pandemic made those delays worse. But the issue actually dates back to before the onset of Covid-19.
Congress has cut Social Security’s core operating budget by 17% since 2010, after adjusting for inflation, according to recent research from the Center on Budget on Policy Priorities. ...
Some states have been more affected by those budget cuts than others, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found.
Social Security’s staff was reduced by 15% between 2010 and 2021. Ten states lost more than 20% of their Social Security staff since 2010. They include Alaska, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Four states — Alaska, Iowa, Virginia and West Virginia — lost more than 25%. The same goes for Puerto Rico. ...
The agency’s Disability Determination Service employees, who decide whether people qualify for either disability or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, shrank by 16% between 2010 and 2021. Eight states lost more than 30% of their DDS staff, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The states most affected are Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. ...
Note how many of the worst affected states vote reliably for Republicans who are the ones responsible for the budget problems and thus for the staffing cuts.
ReplyDeleteTen or fifteen years ago, PC7 Claims Specialists had overtime almost every day of the week.
Some technicians were making well over 100K with all that OT, even though their base salary was 70K.
Frankly I can understand why the Republicans wanted to cut the SSA budget. This OT spending was getting out of control.
However, the cuts in overtime have been input without regard to the effect this has on the backlogs. PC7 CS now have almost no overtime, and the backlogs show it.
It’s cheaper to pay OT than to hire new employees and pay for their full benefits. Your comment makes no sense.
ReplyDeleteStates that lost the most employees probably have little to do with how Republican a state votes. Most of the people I work with vote Democratic and they are still leaving the agency. My take on those leaving in Red states is that Red states are better run and have more opportunities so govt employees don't have to stay at a job where they are overworked.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn’t matter which party is in front e. Has control, SSA is an afterthought.
ReplyDeleteThe Feds encourage the states to let DDS staff that do not meet the impossible and conflicting production, timeliness or quality goals go, encourage them to quit or fire them.
ReplyDelete